


Keeping Watch

by FlightOfInsanity



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, as per usual, get them nightstalker feels, making myself feel bad for Cayde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 19:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10600245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlightOfInsanity/pseuds/FlightOfInsanity
Summary: Loose sequel to "It's Called Supervising"





	

The first time it happened, both of them were caught by surprise. The heavy and warm air of the Ishtar Sink combined with the incessant patter of rain on the roof of the abandoned building and managed to lull Lox into a doze. The Venusian rains had finally gotten on her nerves and she temporarily abandoned her mission to hole up in one of the many shelled out buildings along the coast, hoping break in the weather.

Her Ghost, usually a stickler for staying on track during patrols, had decided to let her sleep instead of pestering her back out into the rain. Vex and Fallen hadn’t been in the area for weeks and it was a rare occurrence for Lox to get genuine sleep. The patrols weren’t the highest priority, so he kept a quiet watch and let her be.

“Cayde!”

The sudden connection of a channel from the Vanguard startled him and his verbal outburst woke Lox up. She was half on her feet, rifle in hand, before she was fully awake. A beat passed as she assessed the area and realized there were no enemies before she looked at her Ghost. He twirled his tines sheepishly as Cayde addressed them.

“Ah, um. Sorry to… startle you?”

The Vanguard had an odd tone and Lox upturned a palm at her Ghost; he tilted side to side in a shrug.

“Did you need something, Cayde?” Lox asked.

“No, no. Well, yes. Kind of. Noticed you hadn’t moved or checked in in a while and uh… just wanted to make sure everything was ok.”

“All good. Boring, but we’re fine.”

“Right.”

Cayde hadn’t closed the connection.

“Um… did you need something else?”

There was a beat of awkward silence. “Just… be careful out there, Hunter.” The channel closed, leaving a slightly baffled Lox to finish her patrol.

* * *

It happened again a few weeks later on Mars. She was patrolling close to the massive gate that marked the entrance to the Black Garden and was in a shouting match with a Centurion when Cayde silently connected. She wouldn’t have noticed except for the small blinking light at the corner of her visor that indicated the open comms. Lox ducked down behind a rock, an exhilarated grin plastered on her face.

“Cayde. Hi. What can I do for you?”

“You sound far too happy.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I would never be happy doing an energy reading patrol for Ikora.” Several slugs exploded into the rock she was sitting behind and the Centurion bellowed in the distance.

Cayde clearly heard the explosions, if not the angry shouting that followed. “Uh, Hunter?”

“One sec,” Lox said.

She spun around and poked her head over the top of the rock and yelled back, external speakers in her helmet carrying the challenge across the sand to the already outraged Cabal. A grunt escaped her as she threw herself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the new volley of shots aimed at her head.

She giggled and then cleared her throat. “Sorry, continue.”

“I was just going to ask for an update to pass to Ikora, but now I think I should monitor this situation – as your Vanguard. Make sure you stay out of trouble.”

Lox snorted. “I’m always out of trouble.” Another volley of missiles slammed into her rock and sent up a cloud of sand.

“Of course.” It sounded almost like Cayde laughed before he held a muffled conversation with someone else. “Right. Ikora wants those readings, so get back to work.”

Lox rolled her eyes and Cayde added, in a quick whisper, “500 glimmer says you can’t get that Centurion to shoot his own soldiers.”

“Cayde,” her Ghost said flatly.

“You’re about to lose 500 glimmer, old man.”

* * *

Time passed and Cayde opening comms for no particular reason became a regular part of their patrols. It seemed to happen most often when Lox was on Venus or got close to any known entrance to the Black Garden, but the Vanguard had popped in several times while she was on Earth and once while she was on the Dreadnaught. He almost never had anything to say related to the mission – usually just odd comments on the happenings, or bets that she couldn’t do something, or he would just quietly observe what she was doing.

Finally, during a stalled Venus patrol, she decided she wanted an explanation.

She sat under the large statue on the coastline, sheltered from the storm that raged overhead. The Fallen forces who usually fought anyone who came near were hiding in the nearby buildings, chased inside by the same weather that had driven her to duck into her improvised shelter. They’d long been off her radar and her attention focused on the driving rain and loud cracks of thunder and lightning as it lit up the sky and the nearby volcano.

“Do you watch every Hunter on patrol?” There was a muffled shuffling, but no real answer, so she continued. “Must take up a lot of time.”

Cayde’s response was somewhere between a challenge and a dodge. “I know how to manage my time, Hunter.”

“That’s not an answer.”

She got a noncommittal noise in return. Lightning crackled through the clouds overhead and she let the thunder echo out before trying to speak again.

“I’m just going to keep asking. Don’t have much else to do right now, and neither do you if my clock’s right.”

Cayde made a noise that came through as frustrated static and Lox’s mouth ticked up into a grin.

“I don’t watch everyone,” he said. “Just the troublemakers.”

“Flatterer.”

A half-hearted huff of laughter. “You’re a good Hunter, but you’ve got a knack for getting into some dangerous messes. I just want to make sure if you need backup I can send it on time.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

 _Oh… The Garden._ Her Ghost stirred and jumped into the channel. “Did you watch Tevis?”

Uncomfortable silence stretched on and Lox swiped a hand through the air over her shoulder in half-hearted reprimand. She hadn’t even thought of that, but her Ghost’s observation made sense – Cayde starting this only after she took up the bow; Cayde contacting them most frequently around the Black Garden.

“I…” Cayde sighed and she could easily imagine him running a hand over his face. “I did. He thought it was the funniest thing I lost the dare. Started showing me clips from his patrols to rub it in my face he was in the field and I wasn’t.”

Lox held up a finger to tell her Ghost not to interrupt. Cayde almost never spoke like this and she didn’t want to stop him.

“Eventually it just became a thing we did – I could tune in anytime and he just let it go. Certain missions he’d tell me to stay off so he could focus and, uh… his Venus mission was one of those. By the time I realized and you got out there…”

There was a heavy silence cut only by a rumble of thunder.

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault.” Another huff of laughter, this time a little bitter. “I suppose I should be apologizing to you. Shouldn’t have started treating you like you were him.”

Lox hummed quietly. “’s fine.”

Silence fell again. The storm picked up again and the wind howled around the statue’s base, driving rain nearly horizontal as thunder clapped loud enough for her helmet to compensate for the volume.

“I just love the weather on Venus. Truly gorgeous,” she deadpanned.

Cayde snorted and she heard a muffled call from somewhere on his end.

“Ah, damn… Zavala wants to have a Talk,” he said. “Stay alert out there.”

“Sure.”

“And you better clean your damn boots before you get back.”

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted on tumblr: http://alak-cool.tumblr.com/post/159355499947/keeping-watch


End file.
